Thursday, January 10, 2008

Thursday Roundup/Caps 2, Avs 1

There's little doubt in my mind that last night's Avalanche posed the smallest offensive threat of any team the Caps have played so far this season. Sure, they scored a goal (and came close a few more times late), but if it wasn't for a strong game from Jose "Hair Club" Theodore in between the pipes (and the Caps pounding shot after shot into the middle of the logo on the front of his sweater), last night's game would not have been close. A few more thoughts on the game:

Hats off to Olie Kolzig who made every save he needed to make, including a left leg kickout on a goal mouth scramble that instantly transported 16,000 fans back to 2000.

Quintin Laing's effort on the third period penalty kill was incredibly inspiring (and the fans acknowledgement of it with a standing ovation speaks to their savvy as well).

Shaone Morrisonn's diving poke check was a thing of beauty, but his decision to step up on Wojtek Wolski with just over three minutes left was a poor one that cost the Caps.

I know the fourth line was the Caps' best all night, but I don't want to see Donald Brashear on the ice in the last five minutes of a tight game. Ever.

I've long been a Brooks Laich fan (it's true), and this year he has proven to be worth that faith.

I didn't see the hit that sent Matt Bradley flying, but he was in ill-humor thereafter and immediately sought out Jeff Finger as a dance partner.

Mike Green's rush with four minutes left in the first period was a thing of beauty, and Alex Semin had as pretty an unsuccessful breakaway as you'll see.

Steve Eminger had a bit of an attitude last night and led the team with four hits.

The Caps dominated the dot, winning 58% of all draws on the night.

Memo to the Guy Sitting Behind Me Last Night: I didn't want to embarrass you in front of your man-date, but it's "Boudreau" (Bourdeaux is a city in France known for its wines), Mike Green will not be winning the Rookie of the Year this year (call it a hunch), and just because you've got a mouth doesn't mean you have to run it for 60 minutes of action. Cheers.

So now it's a few more days off for the Caps to heal up a bit more before facing Philly in a Sunday matinee that has all the makings of a playoff-like atmosphere. They'll need to adjust the sites on their sticks if they're going to have any luck against the Flyers, but then again luck is the due reward of the skillful - and these Caps are showing themselves to be just that.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

Eric Fehr played - and played well - for Hershey last night.... Bad off-ice news for Bears enforcer Louis Robitaille.... Michal Neuvirth has been traded again (thanks to Brian for sending this one in).

Plusses:+ Brooksy is playing really well this season...sorta like Pettinger the past two seasons....+ Laing represents so much that is good about hockey. Locker and Joe B were giving him all sorts of credit for his double blocked shot. + Speaking of which, how many blocked shots did we have tonight? Way to earn the two points, fellas.+ Olie looked great. That save he had with his left toe at the end to block the wide open net was vintage. + Steckel always seems to be feeding garbage goals to the net. I love it.

Minuses:Why nitpick? Great night for the fellas.- Wait, minus goes to the head ref who inexplicably missed the high stick to Laing's (resultantly bloody) eye. How did he miss that?

JP - agree about the Brash thing at the end, but man, he played brilliant the rest of the game. i hope they resign him for another year.

did Eminger get his point across? He looked like Erskine's best bashing buddy out there. I actually liked the pairing. Still don't think Shcultz should continue to start unless he improves his skating and hitting. use that ice time for someone who has more upside (Eminger). Either way, Alzner will bench his ass next year (hopefully).

the thing that i love about Green's rushes is that it looks so freakin EFFORTLESS for him. awesome.

i think the team's confidence has bolstered Olie and his play. he elieves again, me thinks, as do the rest of us.

the first shift for 28-92-43 was a beautiful thing to watch. they didn't have that domination the rest of the game, but that first shift was sick. Semin needs to stop these no look soft passes to no one...especially on the PP.

Nope, the replay clearly showed it was the Avalanche player's stick that hit Laing up high. I think it wasn't called because the ref was in the middle of stepping around the players to keep from getting flattened. It's tough for them to see what's going on when they're doing that. Still, on the replay, it appeared he had a good view of it when it happened. He just missed it.

In Tarik's original game story he had the first goal wrong in one reference too.

The Laing double-blocked-shot thing was extra-excellent because those four penalty killers got stuck in the D-zone for a 100-second shift. And Laing blocked those two shots at the 95th and the 100th second. Just amazing. My seatmate and I jumped up and down in Sec. 430, whooping our heads off. The rest of our section was oddly quiet about it. It was an AMAZING shift. The Avs controlled but never really had great chances during that PP.

Eminger earned another game or three last night. Not a surprise, I'm afraid.

JP, you just cursed yourself. It seems like every time I go to a game I leave thinking "the people behind had to be the most idiotic, obnoxious people on the planet", yet the next game people are even worse.

This of course may be due in part to the fact that I live in Atlanta and most of the people who go to hokey games are obnoxious and ignorant by definition.

Speaking of Tarik's original game story--why was Brash described as a defenseman? There's no way Tarik wrote that, right? Some copy editor slipped that in, I guess, huh?

And, re the man sitting behind you: There's no way Green is winning Rookie of the Year when Ovie is on the team. I mean, come on--Alex is a mortal lock for rookie of the year. Book it. Seriously. No, guys--seriously.

Hypothetically speaking, if BB leads the Capitals to a division title, en route to a playoff birth after the way the season started, could he or would he even be considered for the Jack Adams award and if he is considered do you think he has a chance at winning the award -- that is all if we win the division and make playoffs.

1) Looks like the Canucks scoring woes may soon be over. They picked up Kris beech today off waivers!2) Gabby most certainly should be an Adams finalist IF the caps were to win the SE3) Noisy/stupid fans are everywhere, though have to say there were fewer sitting near by in sec 118 last night than our usual locale of 430 where they seem to grow like a fungus with each passing game.

1) We don't speak French, but in any language it would be a VERY good deal money wise for the Caps. AO could have probably held out for 10+ this summer.2) So much for the drivel that he wanted to get away from DC. Hopefully those faux rumours will now dry up

But the denial isn't much - it's just the team trying to put the horse back in the barn (or whatever the metaphor is). They have a "Meet the Team" event tonight that I'm sure they wanted to be the unveiling for this news, but it leaked. There's no chance this deal is not done, imo.